India's northeastern state of Assam was rocked by a series of bomb blasts last Thursday [1] which killed at least 76 people and injured hundreds. Even as the country is a constant state of high alert given the number of terrorist attacks in the country, more cities appear to be added to the list of those attacked by bomb blasts.
Pirates of the Dirac Sea [2] writes on the blasts that came right after the festival of Diwali. While the state is used to a high level of conflict, the sheer scale and intensity of the blasts has shocked the people.
According to my friend when the blast occurred in Ganeshguri area near the car parking the 10 auto rickshaws standing there started burning simultaneously along with other vehicles. The flyover also got a big hole in it. The intensity was so high that many of the victims’ dead bodies were just a mixture of ashes, bones, teeth etc. One person from my district in Assam has been identified as a victim with some bones, teeth found on the spot and a gold ring which he used to wear.
Although an obscure religious extremist group -India Mujahideen has claimed responsibility [3] for the serial blasts, the theories of involvement of the terror outfits HUJI [4] as well as the ULFA [5] are not being ruled out.
Pirates of the Dirac Sea [2] also complains about the inaction of the government against the suspects and comments on how peoples reacted:
Every time a bomb blast occurs, many people die and from the next day people forget about it and get busy with their daily lives.They have no other options as they have to get back to their work for their survival.
Varun's Vagaries [6] writes on the usual rhetoric of cities being resilient and springing back to life:
We showed our resilience,the city started moving within a matter of hours, normalcy was resumed in a day. We moved on. I personally think this is nothing to be proud of. I am ASHAMED that the city life takes such hits so lightly. I'm ASHAMED the news channels will all move to cricket news withing minutes of that first BREAKING NEWS, I am ASHAMED to look at the TV, see the casualties and just move on, saying I can't do anything about it, and I am also ashamed that I have become so desensitized to human suffering.
Muslim India [7] talks of the steady decline of law and order in Assam through decades of insurgency and ethnic conflict.:
Assam's steady descent into darkness has been happening over a period of time, with armed uprisings against the Indian state and Assam itself, with a proliferation of the ethnic divisions and communal divides over the past years. And none who have had association with violence and the politics of intimidation, hatred and confrontation — and that includes the Indian state which has tried to pit one group against another, politically and otherwise — can be absolved of responsibility.
Other than the sheer tragic nature of the attack, it has provoked a debate on religion and terrorism. At Daily Online Alochona [8], we find a link to an online discussion group talking on the prevalent discourse on terrorism.
Instead of vigorously denouncing all terrorists they are trying to shift the blame to the Hindu terrorists and defending the Muslim terrorists, as if they do not exist in India. Are they unaware of what's happening in Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Indonesia, as well as other Muslim countries in the world?
Maverick Thinking [9] is sick of the coverage for the US elections in the media and feels anger at the increasing instances of terrorist attacks in the country:
Seems like every alternate day a new place is treated to bomb blasts. My blood couldn't help go boiling after seeing the pained pictures of the victims and their families, from the recent Assam serial blasts. How many cities have been hit with these serial blasts in the past 6 month? Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Assam…who's next?